Vermilion county Illinois,REV. MICHAEL OAKWOOD ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p. 266-268 REV. MICHAEL OAKWOOD. The strong points in the character of this most efficient minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, have been his energetic and uniform advocacy of temperance, and his devotion to the cause of the Master, as exemplified in his pulpit work, extending over a period of thirty-five years. He is possessed in a marked degree of the gift of language, and has delivered some very powerful and stirring sermons, calculated to have a lasting effect upon his hearers. A man's habits and disposition are usually indicated by his home surroundings, and the fact that we find Mr. Oakwood the possessor of a fine farm, with all needful appurtenances, and surrounded by the evidences of refined and cultivated tastes, indicates the efficiency with which he has labored and the solidity of his general character, by which he has attained to an enviable position socially and financially among his fellow-citizens. The subject of this sketch was born in Brown County, Ohio, Nov. 10, 1823. His father was a native of Virginia, of German ancestry, and reared in Tennessee. Being an only son, the name was only preserved in America through him. When a youth of nineteen years he emigrated to Kentucky. where he afterward married Miss Margaret Remley, who was also of German descent. She, with her parents, had emigrated to Kentucky from Pennsylvania, going down the Ohio River on a flatboat, when the Indians were numerous along its shores. The Remleys were a thrifty and long-lived family, the mother of our subject living to nearly the eighty-ninth year of her age. Henry Oakwood departed this life at the age of sixty-five years. He was a strong, athletic man of very genial temperament, and kept Himself well posted upon the general events of the age in which lie lived, especially in the politics of the country. He was a warm supporter of the Whig party, and held some of the local offices, among them justice of the pence. He followed farming for his occupation, and reared a family of six sons and three daughters. HG served in the War of 1812, and participated in the battles of the British and Indians at the fall of the celebrated chief, Tecumseh. The father of our subject was a resident of Ohio for a number of years, but in 1833 emigrated to Illinois, settling in this county when Michael was a lad of ten years. 'Ihe people around him were few and far between, and located mostly along the borders of the timber that skirted the streams. The broad prairies were occupied by deer, wolves and other wild animals in abundance. A village of Indians was located about a mile from the Oakwood residence, which was frequently visited by these native sons and daughters of America, who seemed to enjoy their, contact with civilization although unwilling to give up their own rude manner of life. On account of the limited number of white people in the new settlement, the early education of our subject way conducted at home, there being no established school in his township for three years. This want, however, was partially compensated for by the father taking the place of instructor on winter evenings, when the children would form a semicircle around the huge fireplace, and, largely by the light of the burning wood, would pursue their evening studies with their books and slates. Greater ambition to excel is seldom witnessed in the schoolroom than existed in that little family circle, and Michael was greatly encouraged to find himself a little in advance of some of his older brothers in his studies. By the prosecution of his home studies, with the aid of the later meager school privileges afforded, our subject, with four of his brothers, became a teacher, and still further anxious to excel in learning, mastered some of the higher branches of an English education, and especially delighted in wrestling with difficult mathematical problems and investigating the principles of metaphysical science. History, both ancient and modern, received a fair share of attention. He was much interested in the history of the nations of the earth, as made in his own day by their struggles, both in time of war and in peace, the gradual advance of human liberty, and the improved condition of mankind, politically intellectually, morally, socially and religiously. In politics Mr. Oakwood was a Republican from the foundation of the party through all its struggles and took an active part in promoting its success. During the Civil War he was frequently called upon to address large gatherings of citizens, and labored as far as he was able to keep alive the enthusiasm necessary to the success of the Union arms. Although never aspiring to political honors, he frequently held the local offices, lie was a member of the board of supervisors seven years, served one term as justice of the peace much against his inclination, and frequently discharged the duties of the other local offices. Mr. Oakwood very early in life was made the subject of deep religious impressions. His parents were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in the pioneer days before the country was supplied with church buildings, their large farm house afforded a place for regular meetings for preaching and other religious services. Being liberal in their views, there were welcomed under this hospitable roof Methodists, Presbyterians, and various other religious denominations, who were all permitted to seek God in the manner best suited to their separate views. Michael Oakwood, at the age of twenty-eight years, united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and soon afterward was licensed to preach, but declined entering the itinerant field. He was ambitious to study and to "show himself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," as Paul advised Timothy. So he committed himself to a Biblical and theological course of study. In entering upon his ministerial career, Mr. Oak-wood rather adopted the expository and didactic style, and his gifts as a pulpit orator were speedily recognized to he such as would command the respect and attention of his hearers. On the 2d of October, 1864, he was ordained deacon by Bishop E. R. Ames, and on Sept. 28, 1873, was ordained elder by Bishop I. W. Wiley. During his ministry ho has received many into the church, united many in marriage, preached many funeral sermons, and administered upon many occasions the ordinances of the church, baptizing as many as fifty in a day, at other times thirty, twenty and in lesser numbers. He held the office of recording steward for the long-period of thirty-one years, besides many other official positions in his church. Mr. Oakwood has been twice married. In 1846 he was wedded to Miss Nancy, daughter of Samuel Copeland of Blount Township, with whom he lived happily for six years, and at her death was left with one child— Samuel H. Their first-born, Elizabeth, died in infancy. In 1853 Mr. Oakwood was again married to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John P. Mills, then of Ross Township. She is still living, and is a highly- esteemed Christian lady, well educated, and for some time before her marriage was engaged as a teacher. The issue of this union was one daughter and three sons. The daughter, Belle, died at the age of twenty-five years; she was possessed of superior intellectual endowments and a fine Christian character, which, united to her thorough education and usefulness as a teacher, conspired to draw around her a large circle of warm friends. Wilbur, a promising boy, died in the second year of his age; Edwin, a deeply pious child, and a member in full connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church, died at the age of nine years. John M. Oakwood, the only surviving child of our subject, is now (1889) twenty-three years of age. He was married in 1888 to Miss Effie, daughter of Rev. A. G. Copeland of Danville. He has been a Christian from childhood and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is well educated, a great lover of books, and has been engaged in teaching in the Champaign county schools for several years, being at present principal of the high school at St. Joseph. Samuel H., the son of the first marriage, has likewise been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since childhood; he is now forty years of age. He acquired a good education in his youth, and followed the profession of a teacher several years, after which he embarked in the mercantile business at Newtown. He lived there a few years, then removed his business to Danville, where he still resides. In 1878 he was united in marriage with Miss Laura Bennett daughter of John Bennett of Georgetown. Two sons and two daughters were born of this union, but only one child is living, Belva, a promising little girl of four years. The Oakwood homestead is one of the most attractive and beautiful in the township of the same name, and our subject, at the age of sixty-six years, with his faithful and estimable companion, surrounded by friends and in the enjoyment of a happy home, sees much that is desirable in life, and as opportunity occurs seeks to alleviate the afflictions of those less fortunate. Rev. John P. Mills, the father of Mrs. Oakwood, was a regularly ordained local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died at his home in Fairmount Aug. 20, 1882. His estimable wife passed away some years before, Nov. 15, 1868. The father of Mr. Oakwood died in October, 1856, and the mother March 8, 1878.